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Keeping Skinners Falls Bridge alive

By GARY LETCHER
Posted 1/8/25

There are 30 vehicular bridges across our Delaware in the 200 miles between Hancock and Trenton. Every one of them has been replaced or renovated, some of them many times, due to floods, fires, ice …

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My view

Keeping Skinners Falls Bridge alive

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There are 30 vehicular bridges across our Delaware in the 200 miles between Hancock and Trenton. Every one of them has been replaced or renovated, some of them many times, due to floods, fires, ice jams, collisions, metal fatigue, corrosion and erosion. Unfortunately, time has taken its toll on our venerable and beloved Milanville-Skinners Falls Bridge too. A hundred years of traffic, weather, water and aging leave the bridge at the point of imminent collapse. If it is too far gone to be renovated—as the engineers at PennDOT now say—then how should this landmark of the Upper Delaware be remembered?

Two thoughts come to mind. In my now-hometown of Lewes, DE, a historic rail crossing, one of only two hand-operated swing bridges in the country, suffered many of the same problems as Skinners bridge. It was closed and slated to be scrapped. But the citizens rallied, led by the local historical society, and facilitated intact removal of the bridge to be proudly displayed, amid landscaping and signage, at a nearby park. 

Something similar could be done with Skinners bridge; if it were not removed whole, perhaps a reconstructed portion of it—especially including its gorgeous spider-web entrances—could find a home for exhibition and remembrance on nearby public land or private space. There many examples of historic bridges commemorated in this way around the country.

Second, if a new crossing is to be built in the stead of the Skinners bridge, it must not be a generic steel and concrete edifice (e.g. Barryville or Lordville), but rather in the style of, or at least reminiscent of, the venerable landmark it replaces. It might even include some of the flourishes and ornamentation from the old bridge. This was more or less accomplished with the new Pond Eddy crossing, from a distance very similar to the spindly 1903 bridge it succeeded. The history of the Upper Delaware is palpable all around us, but time marches on. If we can’t entirely hold onto that history, we must at least remember it, now and for future generations.

Gary Letcher is the author of “Paddlers’ Guide to the Delaware River.” www.DelawareRiverGuide.com 

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